Monthly Archives: October 2017

Today’s essential question:What do I still need to do to create a strong silhouette project?

Happy Halloween! Today we will continue working on our silhouettes. We only have three classes left this marking period (today, Thursday, and next week Wednesday)! Some people are ready to make their final blog posts for this project. The requirements for this blog post are listed below. If you finish early, you may choose to create a second silhouette over the next three days. You will receive a grade for whichever silhouette is stronger.

Silhouette Project Proposals

The following people never posted a written project proposal describing their concept to their blogs and received a zero for that assignment. Today is your last chance to submit a project proposal concept: Exzavier, Carla, Aiden, Andrew.

Final Blog Post Requirements

When you are done with your project, create a final blog post with the following:

a PDF of your finished project (this may be 3 separate PDFs if you are creating a triptych)

a PNG of your finished project (so we can see the image in the blog post)

a minimum 150-word artist statement about your project. An artist statement (minimum 150 words) about our project. Not sure what to write? Start by answering the following questions:

Describe your artwork

What does your artwork look like?

What is the subject matter? What character(s) or story did you portray with your project?

If you want to push the limits of a traditional silhouette illustration, you may want to consider using varied line weight to add a few details to your artwork. Examine the student examples below.
When has varied line weight added visual interest?
Are there any situations where you think the image would be stronger by removing a few details?

Image Credit: Victoria

Image Credit: Raphael

Image Credit: Tina

Today we will:

Continue tracing our sketches in Illustrator

Create a new blog post with the following

a PDF of our Illustrator progress

a few sentences describing any challenges you have faced, anything you would like help with, and your plans for the rest of the project

Today’s essential question:How can posture and body language illustrate the interaction between characters?

Today we will continue working on our vector silhouettes. Everyone should be tracing their silhouette sketches in Illustrator by the end of today’s class, as we only have a few classes left on this project.

Here are some strong student examples. How has each character’s posture or body language helped tell a story?

Image Credit: Lily

Image Credit: McKenzie

Image Credit: Subash

Today we will:

Continue tracing our sketches in Illustrator

Create a new blog post with the following

a PDF of our Illustrator progress

a few sentences describing any challenges you have faced, anything you would like help with, and your plans for the rest of the project

Today we will:

Today’s essential question:How can I utilize the principles of design to create a dynamic composition for my silhouette project?

Limiting our projects to black and white silhouettes makes it challenging to create an engaging piece of art. Incorporating movement and balance (both through the rule of thirds and negative space) will help add visual interest to your piece.

Here are some great sketches created by Media 2&3 students.

How has each artist incorporated movement?

How have they created a balanced composition (both through the rule of thirds and use of negative space)?

Image Credit: Tina

Image Credit: Infinit

Image Credit: Elyse

Art Employment Opportunity

Interested in earning money while painting murals? Learn more about the City of Rochester’s Roc Paint Job Flyer.

Today we will:

Continue working on our silhouette projects, checking to make sure we are utilizing the principles of design to create a dynamic composition

Today we will continue working on our vector silhouette project. You should be finalizing your sketches today. Still working out a concept? Check out these proposals created by other Media 2&3 students:

Today we will introduce our next project, Conceptual Vector Silhouettes Inspired by Kara Walker.
We will use Adobe Illustrator to communicate a message about a social issue of our choice.

Kara Walker is best known for exploring the raw intersection of race, gender, and sexuality through her iconic, silhouetted figures. Walker unleashes the traditionally proper Victorian medium of the silhouette directly onto the walls of the gallery, creating a theatrical space in which her unruly cut-paper characters inflict physical and emotional violence on one another. (PBS’s Art 21). More background information on Kara Walker is available through TheArtStory.

Read about Kara Walker’s recent statements regarding the current political climate in the NY Times and Quartz.

Here are some examples of Kara Walker’s artwork:

Kara Walker: Burn, cut paper and adhesive on wall, 1998

Kara Walker, A Work on Progress,1998

Project Requirements:

Vector black and white silhouette imagery created in Adobe Illustrator

11×14, 14×11, or 12×18 (depending on desired dimensions)

Illustrates the complexity of a social issue of your choice

Balance of positive and negative space

Choice of one of the following:

One detailed scene with figures and an environment

Triptych (three artworks that should be displayed together) of simpler silhouettes

Today we will:

Brainstorm project ideas for our conceptual vector silhouette project

Create a new blog post with the following (this will count as a 10 point homework grade, so be sure to fulfill all requirements):

A written description of your concept. Not sure what to write? Start by answering these questions, but make sure your final blog post is written in paragraph form:

What social issue will you illustrate?

If this is currently a contentious issue, what side/argument of this issue will your artwork portray?